A 14-year-old girl is on trial for the murder of her 35-year-old husband…two weeks after she was given to him in marriage. She is facing the death penalty, though her father and women’s rights advocates are fighting for her. The only reason she is still alive is her age. Many are questioning the legality of giving a 14-year-old the death penalty under criminal law. Zubeida Nagee, a women’s rights activist in Kano, Nigeria, where this is taking place, told reporters:

“She was married to a man she didn’t love. She protested but her parents forced her to marry him.”

She also said Wasilat Tasi’u, the young widow, was a victim of shocking levels of abuse endured by millions of young female children every day in regions where Islam is dominant.

Three of her husband’s friends died of the poisoning as well, and six more were sent to the hospital, though released later with no effects. She told reporters in April when she was first arrested:

“I have never enjoyed the opportunity of going to Islamic school or acquiring Western education. My father forced me into this mess by stubbornly forcing me into a relationship I was not prepared to live in.”

She confessed that she had mixed rat poison in her husband’s rice that night.

“On the fateful day, my husband’s meal was prepared by the senior wife and put in my room as I was due in fulfillment of his rotational duty in a polygamous setting. I obtained the rat poison for just N100 and, at my convenience, mixed it with the local dish prepared for him. When he returned home from the feast, he came with those who were destined to die with him. I was restless but could not stop it from happening. I felt normal and slept after the incident but the consequence of my action was clear when I was picked up by the police and I felt cold for the first time though my target was my late husband, I must confess that my blood went cold when I realized I had committed mass murder.”